Before long, Georgie and Erica, the two mischievous children, were brought back to the living room.
Of course, their misdeeds weren't just limited to blowing up an old TV with firecrackers.
There was something even more important: when Mr. and Mrs. George and the Swanson arrived in the alley, they had just witnessed the two of them embracing passionately.
In the living room, Georgie, knowing he had done wrong, lowered his head guiltily under his parents' stern gaze.
Beside him, the rebellious teenager Erica turned her head towards the window, adopting a 'don't care' attitude.
"I'm very sorry this happened. Going forward, I will properly discipline Georgie..." George awkwardly apologized on behalf of his eldest son.
"It's not your fault." Linda glared at her rebellious eldest daughter, already intending to leave. So, she continued, "Thank you for your hospitality, I think we should go."
Then, she said to her husband, "Go call Paige too."
With something like this happening between the children of the two families, and being caught red-handed by the parents, it was clear that neither set of parents was in the mood to continue chatting.
...
At Connie's, Paige, hearing her father's call, put down her chess piece and said, "It seems I should go. Oh, and it was nice chatting with you—"
Paige smiled after speaking.
In fact, the two of them really had been chatting the whole time. As for the chessboard in front of them, after all that time, they hadn't even moved a few steps.
"I also gained a lot from chatting with you..." Mike smiled, crushing the [Intelligence +1] light orb he had just absorbed from her. Then, he continued, "If you ever need anything, you can always find me. I promise to be a good listener."
"Thank you." After another look at Mike, Paige got up and walked out.
...
And after the Barry family left, Mary glared angrily at her eldest son.
Clearly, this family gathering was a failure. For Mary, who valued family greatly, this was no small blow.
And Georgie, because of his previous behavior, definitely bore a large part of the responsibility for this failure.
Seeing his wife about to explode, George quickly reprimanded his eldest son: "Georgie, you went too far this time!"
As he spoke, George winked at his eldest son and continued to shout, "Go back to your room and reflect. Don't come out until you know you've done wrong."
"I'm going now." Understanding his father's meaning, Georgie avoided his mother and quickly hid in his room.
"You just keep protecting him..." Mary, having lost her target for anger, naturally directed her fury at her husband.
...
On the other side, the Barry family, driving back home, also found the atmosphere very heavy.
Without outsiders present, Linda's gentle expression completely vanished. She glanced at her eldest daughter in the rearview mirror and reprimanded, "Do you know what you did today? You completely disgraced our family."
Linda's face was full of disappointment.
"What I do is none of your business. Anyway, in your heart, you only have one daughter, Paige," Erica retorted.
"Do you think I want to manage you..." Linda saw her eldest daughter being so disobedient and was clearly genuinely angered: "Look at what you're wearing, and your hair is a mess. You don't look like a good girl at all. You're like a * on the street now..."
"Enough, Linda—" Hearing his wife's words becoming increasingly unpleasant, Barry promptly stopped her.
However, Barry's attempt to mediate only caused his wife to turn her spearhead towards him.
"You're always busy with work and don't care about the family at all. Otherwise, our daughter wouldn't be like this now..." Linda was clearly beside herself with anger at this point.
Barry's extremely high income meant his small clinic would be very busy.
From the perspective of providing a strong financial foundation for the family, Barry had done what a husband should do.
Barry, who had intended to explain himself, saw his wife's forceful demeanor and suddenly lost interest in speaking.
Meanwhile, after scolding her husband, Linda looked at her younger daughter and asked, "What happened with the Cooper family's youngest son today?"
Paige, who was in a daze, replied, "I just played a game of chess with him, I'm not sure what happened exactly."
Seeing her younger daughter's distracted look, Linda said earnestly, "Paige, you really need to make more friends now. Sheldon is a child prodigy like you, and you two should get along well..."
Clearly, Linda was also worried about her prodigy daughter not making friends.
However, Paige had her own judgment. She really wanted to tell her mother that she could handle her own affairs.
But seeing the other party's concerned expression, Paige ultimately couldn't bring herself to speak.
Afterward, she also irritably turned her head towards the car window, looking somewhat like her older sister beside her.
...
Another two weeks passed, and Halloween on November 1st was drawing nearer. As a major holiday, Halloween holds significant meaning.
It allows people to recognize the preciousness of peace amidst elements of horror.
Of course, for the church, this day is also a good opportunity to spread their doctrine.
Promote truth, goodness, and beauty, and God's love for the world!
Before dinner that day, Mary gathered everyone and played them a video.
The content of the video was footage of Pastor Jeff being interviewed not long ago.
The host asked, "Do you feel that the 'House of Hell' activity is too bloody?"
In the video, Pastor Jeff explained unconfidently, "Not at all. In fact, the 'House of Hell' activity allows people to feel pain, thereby realizing the greatness of God..."
Then, the TV showed footage of the Medford Town Church's past Halloween activities.
To be honest, the "real" footage of the House of Hell performance shown on TV made even Mike, a person with thick nerves, feel it was a bit inappropriate for children.
Finally, the host's evaluation of the Medford Town Church's past Halloween activities was: it will scare little children.
"Alright, everyone has seen it. Tell me what you think?" Mary asked.
For the church, Halloween activities are not only about proclaiming God's love for the world, but also have the task of attracting sponsorship.
And after the Medford Town Church was publicly criticized on TV, if they don't change this year, they might not be able to get sponsorship.
Mary's task this time was to organize a different Halloween event for the church.
"I think the content of the past activities was pretty good, there's no need to change it," Missy said first. It could be seen that the little girl was very brave.
"No, it must be changed," Mary denied her younger daughter's words.
"How about this..." Mike thought for a moment and suggested, "Isn't it about promoting God's love for the world? The church could create a comparison based on the 'House of Hell,' and then have a 'House of Heaven' or something. With a comparison, people can more intuitively recognize truth, goodness, and beauty, these wonderful qualities."
In fact, only with comparison can the preciousness of truth, goodness, and beauty be highlighted; merely showing the "evil" side falls short.
Moreover, content highlighting "goodness" would certainly not feature bloody scenes. This also solves the Medford Town Church's predicament from previous years.